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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
France-based regtech Dotfile has secured $6.7 million (€6 million) in new funding.
The round was led by Seaya Ventures. The company’s existing investors Serena and Hexa also participated in the investment.
Dotfile made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateEurope 2024 in London.
Fresh off its FinovateEurope debut earlier this year, Paris-based fintech Dotfile has raised $6.7 million (€6 million) in funding. The round was led by Seaya Ventures, and featured participation from the firm’s existing investors Serena and Hexa. In a statement, the regtech innovator indicated that the funding will power its R&D efforts as well as fuel its international expansion plans.
Dotfile leverages AI to enable banks and other financial institutions to automate customer onboarding and ensure compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The company’s business verification platform improves upon the traditionally manual, complex, and expensive Know-Your-Business (KYB) process by aggregating dozens of different data sources to produce a comprehensive picture of a business within 10 seconds.
“More than $200 billion is invested in compliance every year, yet 2% of the world GDP is still going through the money-laundering rinse cycle, which is fueling crime,” Dotfile CEO Vasco Alexandre said. “AI could change how effective those policies are and the positive impact for our societies could be massive.”
The investment in Dotfile comes at a time of growing awareness of the importance of compliance in financial services – and the ability of technology to help banks and other institutions meet these obligations. From banks seeking to maximize opportunities in fintech partnerships to cryptocurrency platforms eager for greater clarity on digital asset regulations, institutions throughout financial services are finding themselves in an increasingly dynamic regulatory environment. To help companies better manage their compliance obligations, a new generation of fintechs such as Dotfile have emerged with tools, workflows, and other solutions–often AI-powered–to streamline and enhance verification, ensure accurate auditability, and reduce costs.
“Compliance is costing banks up to 10% of their revenue, 1 out of 4 employees work in a compliance-related position and existing systems are sometimes more than a decade old,” Alexandre said. “With the competition from fintech intensifying, a transition is bound to happen and generative AI is the tipping point.”
Dotfile made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 in London. At the conference, the French regtech demonstrated its end-to-end business verification platform that empowers compliance teams to streamline their operations. The company was founded in 2021 by Alexandre and Titouan Benoit, and received major support from startup studio Hexa (formerly known as eFounders). Today, Dotfile has more than 50 customers across 10 countries, including banks, private equity firms, and fintechs. Most recently, the company announced a partnership with private market investment platform Roundtable, helping the firm improve its KYC process to optimize and accelerate customer onboarding.
Voice authentication technology innovator Illuma Labs has raised $9 million in funding. The Series A round was led by LiveOak Ventures and featured participation from Forefront Ventures, Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU.
As the first major investment for the company, the capital will help accelerate the development of Illuma’s voice verification offerings to help banks and other institutions fight fraud, voice cloning, deep fakes, and more. Illuma Labs also plans to leverage the funding to expand its reach to more credit unions and banks across the country.
“While we are excited about the capital infusion to accelerate our development of fraud prevention and deep fake detection tools, we are equally excited about bringing in new partners to fuel Illuma’s continued commercial growth,” Illuma Co-Founder and CEO Milind Borkar said. He praised both LiveOak Ventures and Forefront Ventures for their operational expertise and industry connections and thanked investors Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU for their “continued support.”
Illuma Labs offers banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions the ability to replace their traditional, knowledge-based authentication protocols with a secure, real-time voice authentication solution. The company’s flagship product, Illuma Shield, delivers effortless authentication that enhances the customer experience, improves operational efficiency, and prevents fraud in contact centers.
The funding news arrives one month after the identity verification specialist inked a partnership with Americu Credit Union. The New York State-based CU added voice recognition technology to its Member Contact Center courtesy of a partnership with Illuma announced in August. Earlier this year, Illuma announced that SF Fire Credit Union was adding voice authentication technology to its call center via a collaboration between Illuma and fellow Finovate alum Glia.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, and founded in 2016, Illuma Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. The company most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage earlier this month at FinovateFall, winning Best of Show for its latest deepfake detection technology that helps banks fend off a new generation of AI-enabled fraudsters.
Global analytics software company FICO has teamed up with Jersey Telecom to offer a new solution to combat Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud.
The new offering, the FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal, combines real time network data with customer and payment data to identify and mitigate APP fraud as it happens.
FICO made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York, in 2016.
The solution, the FICO Customer Communications Service Scam Signal, works by identifying the most relevant telephony signals that indicate a scam is taking place. The new offering represents the first real-time combination of telephony data, customer data, and payment data to deal with the problem of Authorized Push Payment fraud.
“Authorized Push Payment fraud is where customers are tricked into sending authorized payments to scammers,” JT Head of Mobile Intelligence Solutions Clare Messenger said. “This type of fraud is growing around the world; 2023 losses in the U.K. alone reached £460 million. To protect customers from being caught by such scams, the new FICO and JT solution enables direct intervention with the customer to quickly determine if a payment should proceed.”
To achieve the new solution, Jersey Telecom worked with the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) and the U.K. Mobile Network Operators to access mobile network insights while adhering to a privacy compliance framework that protected customers’ personal information. Meanwhile, FICO uncovered strong correlations between a customer’s mobile phone behavior and the potential that an active scam is occurring. The Scam Signal leverages this combination of real-time network data, customer data, and payment data to identify and mitigate the social engineering tactics that can trick and ultimately defraud account holders.
“The integration of Scam Signal within the FICO Customer Communications Service allows banks to present customers with personalized, omni-channel, and highly contextualized messages that break the scammer’s spell for high-risk activities,” FICO VP of Product Management Adam Davies said.
“These messages can be built into conversation ‘flows’ that respond in real-time to the actions the customer takes,” Davies explained. “For example, if a customer hesitates or looks to progress a payment, additional messages can be sent, and different options offered, such as suggesting delaying the payment or offering to speak to a fraud prevention specialist.”
The new offering is currently available in the Channel Island of Jersey, the U.K., and Spain, and there are plans to eventually expand to additional markets. Nevertheless, FICO reported that “major high-street banks in the U.K.” are already deploying Scam Signal. One institution piloting the new technology said that it had reduced the number of people being scammed by 41%, lowered fraud losses from scams by 44%, and reduced the number of false positives by 55%.
Last month, Scam Signal won the Silver Medal at Datos Insights’ Fraud Impact Awards for “Best Scam and APP Fraud Prevention” solution. The technology has also been shortlisted for the “Anti-Fraud Solution of the Year” award at the 2024 U.K. Payments Awards.
FICO made its Finovate debut in 2016 at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York. Today, businesses in more than 100 countries use FICO’s technology and solutions to defend customers against fraud, advance financial inclusion, boost supply chain resiliency, and more. The company’s FICO Score has become the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the U.S., and is used by 90% of the country’s top lenders.
Founded in 1956 and headquartered in San Jose, California, FICO is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker FICO. The company has a market capitalization of $47 billion.
Summer’s officially over. But you’ve still got plenty of time to catch up on episodes of the Finovate Podcast that you might have missed while on vacation or just taking a break from the fintech buzz.
EverBank is a nationwide specialty bank that serves both consumer and commercial clients. A pioneer in online banking, EverBank is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
Fintech Sandbox offers entrepreneurs free access to data and resources in order to build their early-stage fintech solutions via its Data Access Residency program. Fryer is Executive Director.
Finovate Podcast host Greg Palmer interviews Jeff Trammell of Merchants & Marine Bank on the issue of cannabis banking and community banks. As a COO, Trammell offers his perspective on implementing new programs. Ep 225.
Headquartered in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Merchants & Marine Bank is a community bank that has served customers in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. for more than 120 years.
Author of Web3 in Financial Services, Martins’ book examines the transformative potential of Web3 in the financial services space.
Alex Harris of Fiat Ventures shared his 2024 mid-year review this summer. In this podcast conversation with host Greg Palmer, Harris handed out a few tips for founders and gave his prediction for what’s next for the fintech industry. Ep 223.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Fiat Ventures is an emerging VC focused on supporting the next generation of market-leading, early-stage fintech companies. Harris is Co-Founder and General Partner.
Fall is officially here! A favorite season for many, autumn also marks a likely acceleration in fintech and financial services news and activity. Be sure to check Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest in headlines and news updates!
Nasdaq Verafin announces enhancements to its Targeted Typology Analytics suite to add detection capabilities for terrorist financing and drug trafficking activity.
This week, we turn to Uzbekistan, a Central Asian nation and former Soviet republic with a population of just over 37 million. The doubly-landlocked country (one of only two in the world) has been transitioning toward a market economy for years and has been credited by the Brookings Institution for its high economic growth and low public debt. A major producer and exporter of cotton, Uzbekistan has leveraged major natural gas supplies to be one of the largest electricity producers in the region. HSBC has predicted that the country will have one of the fastest-growing economies in the next few decades.
We interviewed Oliver Hughes, former CEO of Tinkoff and current Head of International Business for TBC Bank Group – which recently expanded to Uzbekistan. In our extended conversation, we discussed TBC’s goals in Uzbekistan, nature of banking in Central Asia, what key financial services are in the most demand, as well as how enabling technologies are helping financial institutions in the region better serve their customers.
You joined TBC a few years after the bank expanded to Uzbekistan. First, what drew you to TBC?
Oliver Hughes: Joining TBC in Uzbekistan was a great opportunity for two reasons. First, the market itself is full of potential and ripe for disruption. A young, growing population of 37 million people, of which 59% are under the age of 30, economic reforms and liberalization, a favorable macroeconomic environment and an under-penetrated digital banking market create huge demand for world-class online banking services, so I could see a clear path to success.
Second, I knew that TBC Uzbekistan would be a great place to work and an environment that would allow me to make an impact. Since coming to Uzbekistan in 2019, TBC has built a world-class team, secured a banking license, reached profitability within two years, and outlined a vision that aligns with my previous experience of building and scaling a best-in-class, profitable digital banking ecosystem.
Uzbekistan was TBC’s first international market outside of its native Georgia. Why Uzbekistan?
Hughes: Uzbekistan is a hidden gem, previously largely overlooked by the international investment community, but slowly getting on the radar of investors and fintech heavyweights. It is Central Asia’s largest country by population, which is young and getting younger each year. This supports demand for modern digital financial services. The country has also embarked on a large-scale program of economic reform and liberalization, empowering the private sector and starting to attract more international investment.
TBC Uzbekistan is part of London-listed TBC Bank Group and we are proud to play our part in attracting major global investors to the country. Through TBC, large global investment funds like Fidelity, JPMorgan Asset Management, Schroder, BlackRock and Vanguard have been investing in Uzbekistan, and more investors are coming in every month.
The macroeconomic picture is strong, with GDP expanding at an average annual rate of around 6% for the past decade and forecast to almost double to $160 billion between 2023 and 2030.
In addition, Uzbekistan has a deep tech talent base. It’s both because of its highly educated domestic workforce – a product of a strong education system, and also because Uzbekistan is benefiting from an influx of returning expats and a broad range of international tech specialists from neighboring countries.
What does the financial services ecosystem look like in Uzbekistan? What is the level of interest in fintech innovation there?
Hughes: The financial services sector is still largely dominated by major state banks, which command around 70% of the market. However, competition is increasing as the government continues its drive for privatization and other reforms. A recent example of this was with Hungary’s OTP, which in June 2023 became the first international player to participate in the privatization of the Uzbek banking sector, acquiring former state-owned Ipoteka Bank. And recently, Kaspi announced its intention to participate in the privatization of Humo, Uzbekistan’s second largest open-loop domestic payment system.
TBC Uzbekistan is part of London-listed TBC Bank Group PLC, which also operates Georgia’s leading tech-enabled commercial bank. Despite being part of a multinational group, we consider ourselves to be a local player because we operate as a standalone company in Uzbekistan with a separate tech stack and separate team purpose-built for this country.
In terms of the ecosystem as a whole, it is a mix of state banks, international operators, and local Uzbek players, as well as a developing fintech scene covering everything from payments to crypto.
The level of innovation in the local fintech market is very advanced, thanks to open banking. The key development, which has not yet been replicated in developed markets, is the full banking interoperability that open banking enables in Uzbekistan. In practice, it allows customers to seamlessly interact with multiple financial institutions.
For instance, when a customer of one bank opens an account with another institution, the new bank gains visibility into the customer’s transaction history and account balances from their original bank, while the new bank is also able to initiate fund transfers or debit transactions from the customer’s account at the original institution. This helped TBC enter the market in 2019 via the acquisition of the leading P2P payments app Payme to quickly achieve profitable growth and access to a huge customer base.
Let’s talk a little more specifically about TBC Uzbekistan. How is it structured? What is its mission?
Hughes: Our mission is simple – to make people’s lives easier. As I described earlier, the financial services sector has been and is still to some extent dominated by state institutions that operate in a traditional fashion. We see that there is demand for modern, digital banks that provide a great, convenient user experience and that is what we are building.
At present, there are three components to TBC Uzbekistan: TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ), a mobile-only bank; Payme, a digital payments app for individuals and small businesses; and Payme nasiya (Payme instalments), an installment credit business. London-listed TBC Group owns 100% of both Payme and Payme nasiya and is the major shareholder of TBC UZ, with a 60% stake. The other 40% stake in TBC UZ is split between two institutional investors: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group.
What are some of the biggest areas of opportunity in your opinion?
Hughes: We see some really exciting opportunities in Uzbekistan. At present, we are focused on consumers and specifically consumer lending. Despite over 45 million cards in circulation across the country, product offerings remain limited and retail lending is especially underdeveloped, representing just 12% of GDP.
Demand from consumers for financial services is already significant and continuing to grow, with point-of-sale (POS) digital payment volumes tripling to over $22 billion in the three years ending in 2023, with the number of POS terminals and bank cards in circulation doubling over the same time period.
There are interesting opportunities in other areas as well, including a new, product-rich debit card, financial services for SMEs, insurance and brokerage, with the latter two being at a fairly nascent stage of development in Uzbekistan. So, we plan to leverage those as well in the future.
TBC Uzbekistan recently raised a significant amount of capital. How will the new funding help the bank?
Hughes: Our business in Uzbekistan is scaling rapidly, but there is still significant potential for further growth, including through diversifying our offering to address market demand. The recent funding is being used to increase our loan book — which we are currently doubling year-on-year — advance financial inclusion, and accelerate our progress in launching new product lines.
In addition to powering our growth, new funds help us to continue to diversify our funding base.
What are some things about Uzbekistan that those of us on the outside may be surprised to learn?
Hughes: Uzbekistan is a country that largely exists outside the mainstream consciousness in the West. Some people might have their preconceptions, and would be surprised to learn about the advanced state of open banking in the country. Building on that, the level of innovation in financial services is pretty impressive in Uzbekistan. The fintech sector is thriving and strongly supported by the government and the wider ecosystem that is fueled by local and international tech talent.
In terms of other things that may surprise you about Uzbekistan, it’s the food scene. The food here is incredible, so I urge everyone to come over and try it!
There is a lot of talk about enabling technologies such as AI. Are any of these major areas of innovation in Uzbekistan’s fintech scene?
Hughes: Artificial Intelligence is a key innovation area and one that I am proud to say that TBC is leading among peers by integrating AI into our services.
Our plans are ambitious. We are building an AI Virtual Assistant that takes customer service to the next level. The most common customer service solution right now is chatbots, but we’re skipping that stage and going straight to an interactive voice assistant. What’s more, we’re enabling functionality in the Uzbek language and, in the future, in other local languages such as Tajik and Karakalpak, which tend to get overlooked by major tech giants.
We ultimately envision this Virtual Assistant being able to guide our users across all of our product offerings within TBC Uzbekistan, including the ones we plan to launch in the future, such as insurance, brokerage, travel and ticketing.
How do you see TBC Uzbekistan growing over the next two-to-three years?
Hughes: Since launching in 2019, TBC Uzbekistan has scaled significantly and established itself as a leading player in the market. As disclosed in our recent half-year results, we have grown our user base to 16 million unique registered users and achieved an operating profit of $61 million, up 87% year-on-year, with TBC Uzbekistan accounting for 7% of total profit for the group, as well as 13% of revenue and 44% of consumer loans on the group level. This is a very significant contribution, which is set to expand further.
We plan to continue to grow rapidly over the next 2-3 years, launching new product lines and gaining an increased percentage of market share. This is reflected in the guidance we have issued to the market: a net profit for TBC Uzbekistan of $75 million for the full year of 2025, with 30% of the Group’s loan book coming from TBC’s operations in Uzbekistan.
Where might TBC expand next? Are there any areas of special interest?
Hughes: We’re not yet at the stage where we can point to a specific market. However, I can tell you the types of markets we are considering. Our attention is on emerging markets with a population of around 30 to 70 million people, scope for growth and other favorable characteristics. For now, we still have a lot of exciting things to do in Uzbekistan.
Here is our look at fintech headlines around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South African fintech Happy Pay locked in $1.8 million in pre-seed funding in a round co-led by E4E Africa and 4Di Capital.
Ghanaian crypto platform, Mybitstore, went live in Nigeria this week.
Nigerian fraud detection company Regfyl raised $1.1 million in funding.
Central and Eastern Europe
Germany’s Commerzbank partnered with Deutsche Börse subsidiary, Crypto Finance.
Instanbul, Turkey-based fintech Colenda AI launched new AI solution to help financial institutions enhance decision-making and boost loan performance.
Bulgaria-based Paynetics teamed up with tell.money to launch its Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service.
Middle East and Northern Africa
UAE-based B2B payments platform Xpence teamed up with Egypt-based Paymob to enhance digital payments in the region.
Egyptian fintech SETTLE raised $2 million in pre-seed funding.
Mesh integrated with digital asset trading platform CoinMENA FZE to enhance crypto transfers and account management for customers in the MENA region.
Central and Southern Asia
India-based insurtech Onsurity raised $21 million to power expansion plans.
ZaakPay, the payment gateway arm of India’s MobiKwik, partnered with Meta to provide an embedded payment option via WhatsApp.
Indian financial services platform Kaleidofin secured $13.8 million in funding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Uruguay-based MercadoLibre secured $250 million in financing from JPMorgan.
JMM Group and Liberty Latin America launched microlending service MYNE Lend for Jamaican customers.
dLocal, a cross-border payments platform based in Uruguay, forged a partnership with MoneyGram.
Asia-Pacific
Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) teamed up with TerraPay.
Paysend launched instant cross-border payouts to China UnionPay cards for enterprise customers.
Could 2024 turn out to be the Year of the Regtech?
As more and more processes in financial services become AI-enabled, the impact of AI on regulatory technology and compliance solutions has been profound. From automating manual processes to more comprehensively engaging data, AI is helping regtech firms better serve their customers at a time when their customers – in banking, in fintech, in financial services in general–need it most.
We caught up with one such regtech, Tennis Finance, and its Co-Founder and CEO Jake Pimental. Headquartered in San Francisco, California and founded in 2022. Tennis offers an automated AI compliance and risk management solution to help businesses better manage customer complaints and external communications.
At its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring earlier this year, the company demoed Rally, its solution that enables financial institutions to intake customer complaints and data to automatically identify compliance issues as well as uncover trends in customer conversations.
What problem does Tennis Finance solve and who does it solve it for?
Jake Pimental: Tennis Finance addresses the growing complexity of compliance and risk management for banks, financial institutions, and debt collectors. As regulations tighten and customer complaints rise, these organizations face significant challenges in handling compliance effectively and efficiently. We specifically focus on automating the processing and analysis of customer communications to prevent regulatory breaches and lawsuits, while also optimizing customer service and operational efficiency.
How does Tennis Finance solve this problem better than other companies or solutions?
Pimental: We leverage AI-driven technology to analyze calls and customer interactions, providing actionable insights that streamline workflows. Our platform parses customer communications, automatically categorizing and tagging them for compliance risk. This automation reduces overhead by 80%, increases regulatory safeguards, and improves customer retention, giving our clients a significant competitive edge. Unlike other solutions, we don’t just automate tasks – we provide a comprehensive view with tailored action plans, ensuring our clients not only meet regulatory standards but exceed them.
Who are Tennis Finance’s primary customers, and how do you reach them?
Pimental: Our primary customers include banks, accounts receivable companies, and financial institutions that are heavily regulated and at risk of non-compliance. We reach them through industry conferences like Finovate, strategic partnerships, and referrals through consulting networks. We also work closely with compliance officers and decision-makers, demonstrating how our platform can save time and reduce compliance risk.
Can you tell us about a favorite implementation or deployment of your technology?
Pimental: One of our most impactful deployments was with a major debt collection agency that was struggling with complaint handling and agent oversight/coaching. Our AI solution reduced their operational overhead by 80% and helped them identify risks early, preventing costly litigation.
What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?
Pimental: Before founding Tennis Finance, I was a compliance officer at SoFi, where I helped launch their investments arm and navigated complex regulatory environments. This experience, along with my background in compliance strategy and risk management across multiple startups, gave me a deep understanding of the challenges financial institutions face. My track record of building solutions that solve these problems, combined with the ability to scale AI-driven technologies, gave me the confidence to build Tennis Finance.
There has been a great deal of interest in regtech and compliance in recent years. Is this a trend you saw coming? What is driving it and where is it going?
Pimental: Yes, the rise in interest was anticipated, given the increasing complexity of financial regulations and the growing number of customer complaints. What’s driving it is a mix of stricter regulatory scrutiny, rising operational costs, and the need for faster, more efficient compliance processes. The future of regtech is all about automation and AI – providing real-time risk management, reducing manual tasks, and enabling institutions to stay ahead of the regulatory curve while improving customer experiences.
You demoed at FinovateSpring earlier this year. How was your experience?
Pimental: FinovateSpring was an incredible experience. It allowed us to showcase the unique capabilities of our platform in front of an audience of industry leaders, investors, and potential clients. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive, especially around our AI-driven approach to compliance automation. It was also a great platform to build valuable partnerships and foster industry connections.
What are your goals for Tennis Finance? What can we expect to hear from you in the months to come?
Pimental: Our primary goal is to scale our platform to serve more financial institutions and expand into new markets. In the coming months, you can expect to see us deepening our partnerships, launching new features focused on advanced predictive analytics, new AI workflows, AI coaching, and exploring new use cases beyond just compliance. We’re committed to pushing the boundaries of what AI can do in the financial services space.
Open banking solutions provider Neonomics is streamlining and enhancing the deposit experience for customers of Oblinor.
Oblinor offers a digital real estate investment platform that enables users to build a portfolio of secured property loans.
Based in Oslo, Norway, Neonomics made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
Digital real estate investment platform Oblinor has turned to open banking solutions provider Neonomics to streamline and enhance the deposit experience. Oblinor, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Norway, has integrated Neonomics’ checkout offering, which will facilitate a faster, more secure process for investors when they deposit funds for their accounts.
“We’re excited to integrate open banking into our platform,” Oblinor Lead Engineer Christopher Maxwell said. “Neonomics has made the transition smooth and effortless, allowing us to offer a faster, more secure, and incredibly user-friendly way to fund investments. This is just the beginning, and we’re excited about the potential to continue driving innovation in financial services alongside Neonomics.”
Oblinor enables individuals to invest in loans to Norwegian property companies and to build a portfolio of secured property loans. Its partnership with Neonomics will enhance the deposit experience by instantly populating details such as account numbers, amounts, and KID numbers, reducing the amount of manual work typically required to enter transaction data. In addition to accelerating the deposit experience, the partnership with Neonomics will provide greater security and less risk of fraud, as well.
“Neonomics is a perfect fit for what Oblinor is building,” Neonomics CEO Christopher Andvig said. “By integrating open banking, we’re adding real value for their users–making it easier, more secure, and more efficient to invest. As the potential of open banking continues to grow, we’re excited to see what’s next in this partnership.”
Founded in 2017, Neonomics made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin. At the event, the Norway-based fintech showed how its technology can be used to facilitate instant payments and bank transfers directly from an app or website. Today, the company unifies access to more than 2,500 banks and 150 million bank customers across Europe. A licensed payments institution authorized by the Norwegian FSA, Neonomics provides payments initiation and account information services for customers ranging from banks to fintechs to payment service providers and more.
Earlier this month, Neonomics introduced new Head of Growth and Interim Country Manager for Finland, Panu Poutanen. Most recently, Poutanen was General Manager of Finland for European cloud-based payment services provider Viva.com. In August, Neonomics announced a partnership with charitable giving platform company Støtte. The company will leverage Neonomics’ open banking technology to facilitate account-to-account payments for its micro-donation offering.
Identity verification specialist ID-Pal announced a global strategic partnership with CLOWD9.
The partnership will integrate ID-Pal’s AI-powered identity verification technology into CLOWD9’s payment solutions portfolio.
ID-Pal made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.
Fresh off its Finovate debut at FinovateFall this month, identity verification specialist ID-Pal has announced a global strategic partnership with CLOWD9. Courtesy of the partnership, CLOWD9 will offer ID-Pal’s AI-powered identity verification technology via its payment solutions portfolio.
“This strategic partnership will allow CLOWD9 clients to access both a compelling end-to-end identity solution and an AML screening solution with advanced AI-fraud detection capabilities,” CLOWD9 CEO and Co-Founder Suresh Vaghjiani said.
Using a combination of document, database, and biometrics checks, ID-Pal enables businesses to verify the identity of their customers in real-time. Available via API, SDK, or through the Salesforce App Exchange, ID-Pal’s technology detects AI-generated documents, deepfakes, and injection attacks, providing advanced fraud detection without requiring direct access to customer data. ID-Pal also streamlines OFAC, AML, and KYC processes into a single compliant workflow to ensure a comprehensive audit trail.
“We’re delighted to be adding our award-winning identity verification solution to the CLOWD9 technology portfolio,” ID-Pal Enterprise Sales Manager Mark O’Hara said. “Together we can help financial institutions adapt and thrive in a new world of digital payments and enhanced security by democratizing secure, robust fraud prevention tools.”
The partnership with CLOWD9 advances the company’s mission to revolutionize the payment industry through a combination of advanced payment processing and AI-powered identity verification. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in London, CLOWD9 was among the first B Corp certified payments companies. The firm offers a cloud-native, decentralized issuer payments processing platform that serves challenger, consumer, and SME banks; e-wallets and crypto exchanges; virtual and corporate card programs; and more.
ID-Pal is not the only Finovate alum that CLOWD9 has teamed up with in 2024; the company announced a partnership with reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments in June. Like ID-Pal, Kani is a relative newcomer to Finovate, debuting at FinovateSpring last year. Additionally, this week’s news from CLOWD9 comes just days after the company introduced new Chief Technology Officer Paul Hansford. Hansford comes to CLOWD9 after six years as head of software engineering for payment company Thredd.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ID-Pal made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024. At the conference, company CEO and Founder Colum Lyons demoed ID-Pal’s technology that uses “pure AI, not people,” to provide real-time identity verification. In his remarks, Lyons highlighted the fact that many legacy vendors in the space rely as much on people for identity verification as they rely on technology. In contrast, he said, ID-Pal’s 100% AI-powered platform leverages 160+ trusted data sources and 7,000+ identity documents to provide more accurate results and greater efficiency.
The Streamly Fintech Insights series provides analysis and discussion on major issues impacting banks, credit unions, fintechs, and financial services providers of all kinds.
Featuring senior leaders in fields ranging from banking to venture capital to media strategy, the Streamly Fintech Insights series offers a look into the innovative technologies that are helping financial institutions turn challenges into opportunities for themselves and their customers.
This week, we’re showcasing four new discussions from Streamly’s Fintech Insights series.
Embedded Finance with Eric McCabe, Head of Embedded Finance, Citizens Bank; and Amber Gerstung, Senior Managing Director, Head of Embedded Payments, SVB.
What’s Hot and What’s Not at FinovateSpring with Jason Henrichs, CEO, Alloy Labs; Alenka Grealish, Co-Lead Generative AI Research, Celent; and Charles Elkan, Professor of Computer Science, University of California.
Financial services software provider Finastra has teamed up with onboarding specialist Prelim.
Courtesy of the partnership, Finastra will integrate Prelim’s technology into its Finastra Phoenix core solution to enhance the account opening experience.
Finastra was formed via a merger between Misys and D+H in 2017. Prelim made its Finovate debut in 2022.
Financial services software company Finastraannounced a partnership with onboarding specialist Prelim. Finastra will integrate Prelim’s technology into its Finastra Phoenix core solution to enhance the deposit account opening experience for both retail and commercial accountholders.
“In a digital-first society, consumers and businesses expect their financial solutions to be agile and transform as needed to keep pace with their needs,” said Peter Longo, VP of Product Management for U.S. Mid-Market Banking Solutions at Finastra. “As we look to continuously enhance our offerings, Prelim is a trusted partner to support this transformation and our Open Finance ecosystem. We look forward to working together to deliver the innovations community banks and credit unions across the United States need to stay ahead of the competition.”
Prelim’s technology automates the application process, as well as internal processes such as reviewing, processing, underwriting, and servicing. This accelerates account opening and simplifies complex back-office operations. Prelim integrates seamlessly with Phoenix APIs, and newly created accounts are reflected in the digital banking solution, ensuring a cohesive, user-friendly experience.
“Customers expect an easy-to-use, real-time onboarding process when applying for a new financial product or service,” Prelim CEO and Co-Founder Heang Chan said. “We’re excited to be partnering with Finastra to help accelerate retail and commercial deposit account opening for financial institutions around the world.”
Finastra was forged in 2007 as a result of the integration between Finovate alum Misys and D+H. Headquartered in the U.K., the company provides financial services software applications for payments, lending, treasury, capital markets, and both retail and digital banking. Finastra has more than 8,100 clients in 130 countries, including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks.
In recent months, Finastra has forged partnerships with technology consultancy and digital solution provider Tech Mahindra, supply chain finance platform CredAble, and full-cycle verification platform Sumsub. The company’s technology powered new offerings like cloud-first ORO Bank of Bhutan and Bank Midwest’s digital-only OnePlace.bank. Finastra introduced Mike Stawchansky as its new Chief Technology Innovation Officer in March.
Prelim made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the San Francisco, California-based fintech demonstrated its white-labeled platform that helps banks build more than 100 financial apps and digital experiences for customers and members. Prelim’s clients use the platform to add deposit accounts, treasury services, credit cards and more to their offerings. Point-to-point integrations enable Prelim to orchestrate and automate KYC, KYB, and AML in real time.
From hyper-personalization to compliance automation to product management, the digital transformation in retail bears many similarities to the digital transformation taking place in financial services.
In both instances, greater digitization and enabling technologies like AI and machine learning, are empowering businesses to better know and serve their customers, build innovative solutions and services, and secure their operations and their customers’ data against cybercrime.
We caught up with Lohith Kumar Paripati (LinkedIn), Product Lead at Walmart, to talk about the digital transformation in retail. In our extended conversation, we discuss Walmart’s efforts to make ecommerce more effective for merchants, the pain points retail customers are currently facing, and how innovations in AI and an emphasis on personalization are helping enhance the customer experience.
At FinovateSpring earlier this year, you were involved in a discussion on digital transformation in retail. What were some of your key takeaways?
Lohith Kumar Paripati: I was privileged to be part of this event as a panelist and speaker at FinovateSpring, where I discussed how AI and LLMs are revolutionizing retail through improved operational efficiency and personalized customer experiences. My reflections touched on the impact GenAI is having on the industry with its hyper-personalized recommendations as well as robust payment offerings, thus changing the purchasing experience.
What caught my attention was the buzz throughout. FinovateSpring has always been known for its exciting ambiance, and this year’s event was no different. There were live demos from various innovative companies that kept me tuned in while networking opportunities were unrivaled. From my fellow panelists, I heard insights about bridging ecommerce and in-store experiences for Gen Z consumers who want seamless technology-driven relationships.
The event reiterated that Finovate isn’t just about presentations but is also a forum where leaders in the industry converge towards innovation, networking, and learning.
You spearheaded the Walmart Seller Savings Platform. What are its goals? How do you measure success?
Paripati: The Seller Savings Platform has been built around the idea of seller success and offers financial incentives that promote best practices on the marketplace. The platform encourages sellers to offer affordable pricing and delivery speed, as well as maintain product listing quality, which are important drivers of sales growth for them.
Through the platform, we introduced a various programs such as Pro Seller, which gives visible importance and credibility through a badge and also reduces referral fees by 5%. Furthermore, with the Pro Listing program, sellers who have the ability to deliver their items fast and on time, or at low prices, can get an extra 10% discount. For new sellers, the New Seller Savings Program offers up to 25% fee reduction for the first 90 days while providing them with tools like Walmart Fulfillment Services and Sponsored Search ads that help them grow more quickly.
The key aim of this platform is to encourage sellers by offering resources and incentives that contribute towards better business outcomes. Success is measured by seller performance metrics: delivery rates, customer satisfaction levels, and program participation. At its core, however, it is all about helping sellers reach their goals, boost GMV figures, and improve overall marketplace experience for all.
How did your experience at technology companies like Microsoft, Intuit, and Samsung inform the work you did for Walmart?
Paripati: Microsoft, Intuit, and Samsung gave me a strong foundation in product management, strategic thinking, and customer-centric innovation skills that I’ve applied to multiple projects for Walmart. At Intuit, I developed deep expertise in fintech and commerce which has been invaluable in shaping initiatives like the Walmart Seller Savings Platform.
In my tenure with Microsoft, I was able to lead and drive solutions within large organizations structures. That experience empowered me to build comprehensive payments data infrastructure of Walmart sellers. From Samsung, I learned how to drive innovation in big firms so that every fresh thought is effectively integrated into previous systems. This enabled me to introduce more payment/billing options available to Walmart sellers in multiple geographies.
A combination of creativity, tactical planning, and working together are what have shaped my ambition for creating a suite of products and tools for merchants within the walls of Walmart Marketplace.
Were there any interesting challenges on the road to launching the platform?
Paripati: Managing the scale and complexity of Walmart’s vast marketplace was one of the greatest obstacles I faced when building the platform. We had to have a system that can manage personalized saving programs for thousands of sellers and millions of items while at the same time be accurate, transparent, and responsive in real-time, especially during peak times like holidays.
Also important was balancing technical requirements with wider business goals. We had to make sure that platforms like this supported objectives such as increased seller engagement or customer satisfaction without being too expensive. This meant working continuously with other people within finance, operations, and marketing–among others–ensuring that value is delivered at each level.
Another crucial aspect was building adaptability into our architecture. We needed an infrastructure that would not only satisfy today’s needs but also support future initiatives. The key takeaway points were learning about how scalability is important and how cross-functional collaboration can be powerful. Successful launch required seamless coordination between product, engineering, and business teams, resulting in both technological excellence and strategic impact.
You’ve been a Product Manager for technology companies for more than a decade now. How has that job changed over the years?
Paripati: Over the years, my role as a product manager has evolved from being feature-focused to becoming a central driver of business strategy. Early on, my work involved managing specific product features and ensuring their successful execution. As I progressed into leadership, my responsibilities expanded to include not just product development but also aligning those products with overall business objectives, balancing customer needs with strategic goals, and pivoting quickly when necessary to stay ahead in the market.
In the broader industry, product management has shifted from being a function focused on execution to becoming the core of business success. While stakeholder management and collaboration have always been key aspects, today’s emphasis is on creating a product-first culture. Product managers are now at the forefront of driving revenue, building scalable products, and contributing directly to the company’s financial success.
Today’s product managers must be agile, ready to pivot as market demands shift, and play a crucial role in shaping the company’s direction through data-driven insights and a deep understanding of customer needs. This evolution has made the role more dynamic, impactful, and integral to a company’s growth.
What role will enabling technologies – AI, machine learning, automation – play in the digital transformation of retail?
Paripati: AI, machine learning, and automation have altered retail by offering practical use cases that improve operations as well as customer interactions.
For example, AI-powered demand forecasting predicts product trends, thereby optimizing inventory levels and reducing costs. Inside stores, real-time shelf stock monitoring using computer vision driven by AI detects when items are running out, thus alerting attendants to restock before shelves go empty. Automated checkout systems make shopping faster by eliminating traditional checkout lines for frictionless shopping experiences.
Customer experiences are made more personalized by machine learning that result in product recommendations that continuously adjust prices. From the comforts of their homes, customers can virtually have a look at themselves with the help of AI-driven virtual try-ons.
In logistics, robotic automation accelerates order fulfillment, but delivery times are being reduced through automated delivery systems such as drones and autonomous vehicles. These technologies are revolutionizing retail, making it more efficient, agile and consumer-driven.
Where are the biggest pain points for retail consumers and how will this transformation in retail help resolve them?
Paripati: A major concern among retail customers is the disconnection between online and offline experiences. Several retailers find it difficult to provide customers with a seamless experience across all channels, even though that is what they expect today. Moreover, digital transaction fraud rates are very high, and payment security issues loom large as consumers become more concerned about security. Additionally, consumer retention becomes difficult when there are an overwhelming number of product choices due to a highly competitive landscape where retailers vie for customer loyalty.
The digital transformation of the retail industry addresses the problem by merging physical with digital channels to create an omni-channel experience. To achieve greater confidence from buyers, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are used to secure payments while reducing fraud. In order to maintain customer loyalty in an extremely competitive market, retailers use their personalized offers alongside loyalty programs which improve shopping experience.
However, there are many countries where access to even basic goods remains an issue. It is an opportunity and a responsibility that retailers have to enlarge their reach and ensure that underserved consumers get hold of essential products. By using innovative distribution networks, technology can be employed by retailers to bridge this gap, provide more equitable access to goods, and ensure everyone benefits from the digital transformation in the retail industry.
What excites you most about what’s happening in the retail space right now that few people are talking about?
Paripati: Embedded finance has already been discovered as one of the greatest things happening in retail, even if it is not widely recognized. The ability to integrate financial services directly into the retail experience changes everything. On-demand lending at checkout, digital wallets, and buy-now-pay-later options are all instances of embedded finance which alters how consumers work with retailers.
The convergence of AI with physical retail is another area that fascinates me. Advancements in AI are enabling us to introduce new approaches to improving the shopping experience, such as using AI-based tools to customize product displays or optimize store layouts according to customer behavior. This blend of digital and physical is establishing a new frontier for retailers – a world that allows them unlimited space for innovation.
